Alternate names: Ryglice [Pol], Riglitz [Yid]. 49°53' N, 21°08' E, 10 miles SE of Tarnów. 1900 Jewish population: 385. Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), X, p. 87: "Ryglice". This town id the seat of the urban-rural administrative district if Gmina Ryglice in woj. Małopolskie, Tarnow powiat about 30 km from Tarnow, near the town of Tuchów with a 2007 population of 2,811. Between 1975-1998, the city administratively belonged to woj. Tarnowski. Ryglice erected a controversial monument exile at the initiative of the mayor. Apart from the town of Ryglice, Gmina Ryglice contains the villages and settlements of Bistuszowa, Joniny, Kowalowa, Lubcza, Uniszowa, Wola Lubecka and Zalasowa. The first Jews probably settled in Ryglice probably in1348 when King Casimir the Great gave Ryglice the Magdeburg rights and allowed Jews to settle. Manymore Jews settled there at the end of the 18th century. After 1772 a massive influx of Jews from Germany came to Ryglice area as well as to Zalasowej Lubča. In 1846, mass murder of peasants and Jews was rumored, leading to several arrests in the Ryglice. Czech Kopecki Antoni was involved in the conspiracy against Austria, for which he was arrested and named Jews as coconspirators. In the first half of the 19th century when a kahal was formed, Jews lived in the center of the town, occupied in small scale business, trades, and peddling. Several Jewish families lived in the area surrounding the town. Jews also took part in WWI. In the war cemetery is the gravestone of one, Sch. Hierschmann. In the interwar period, the Jews lived mainly around Ryglice market. In 1937, fourteen to seventeen stores were Jewish owned. Jewish children attended the Catholic school. A two-story synagogue, mikvah, and the slaughterhouse were on the outskirts of the market. The Germans' police from Tarnow burned the synagogue with tall stone steps at the end of 1939. Many Jews fled to the outskirts of the town. Although the Jews were a tiny part of the town population, the surroundings had a 90% Jewish population. After burning the synagogue, the Nazis burned the prayer house and mikvah with two pools and shower. The slaughterhouse specialized mainly in poultry. On the afternoon of Thursday, September 7,1939, the German army entered and began to harass and kill the Jewish population. They cut beards, forced them to wear a blue Mogen David on their sleeve. In winter 1941/42, they had to turn in all fur and warm clothing to be sent to the front. Jewish shops had to put a flag on the wall or door. The Nazis destroyed places of worship. Later, the German army arrived from France making the Jews slave at jobs like making gravel, planting and organizing the war cemetery, repairing roads and streets in the market, and general work for the military. Tuchów Jews came to Ryglice stores with food and cigarettes to sell were plundered by the Germans until liquidation of the local population. In the first years of the war, they shot many Jews at random locations. From 1939 to July 22 , 1942, the Germans shot at about 30 people for no reason. In Ryglicach near Jonin to Tracznią Goria (also referred to as "Tracnią Goria") and in other places and on the outskirts of the market they were murdered. Just before liquidation of the ghetto, the Germans ordered the Jews to dig up all of the decomposing bodies shot in different random locations and move them to the cemetery in special wooden boxes, probably for sanitary reasons. They even pointed out the places where people were shot. Practically all the Jewish families were held on Grunwaldzka Street, today Tuchowska, and moved them temporarily to Tuchów ghetto on Wednesday, July 22, 1942. Peasant wagons departing on this sunny day in July carried their valuables. Some Jews went to Tuchów on foot. Most were deported to Belzec from Tuchow. Of 395 men and women, old and young, probably three survived. After the war, some families living around the market found the remains of the last Jewish inhabitants killed. She was Maria Kantor [aka Dobka Strum], who converted to Catholicism. Although before the war she had already married to a Pole, she still was murdered. The Nazis ended to the almost 600 years existence of the Jewish community in the area.

US Commission No. POCE000024. In Tarnow. The US Commission is not finished rechecking this file. [2000]

Normal 0

CEMETERY: On the right side of the road on the lower Gali, the cemetery was established in the first half of the 19th century and before the war was surrounded by walls. Some gravestones are in the foundations of some buildings, monuments, and part of for paving roads and Stable building. In 1960 about 300 matzevot remained while in 1990s, only about a hundred. Around 2000, the cemetery was cleaned with bushes removed and gravestones, and new fence added. Despite the damage, the row layout is a clear. On the edge of the cemetery, gravestones of local rabbis and tzaddikim are secured [ohel?]: Cwi Meir Nachum Segal, [d December 12, 1890]; Abraham Awli tzaddik ben Menachem Cwi Segal [d January 10 , 1932]. history. video. photos. [June 2009]